As the title say's, what are somethings that you wish you never did or bad luck or things that you had go wrong, learned the hard way

just for fun

 

Big mistake--buying the ATI 2 core intercooler mounted under the car with the scoop hanging down about 2 inches off the ground. It was worse than having to worry about dragging my long tube headers. I cringed at every little raised place or dip in the road. Finally ripped the scoop off going over some railroad tracks. Went back to no intercooler with alcohol/water injection system. My advice--go with the twin intercooler setup or a custom front mount.

 

Here's a mistake, buying parts more than once. The best advice I can give would be to set your goals once and stick to them. I've bought things 2 or even 3 times only to change my mind and end up going another route or with something else. Gets expensive damn quick.

 

Yeah, what he said...

 

I have one..

Not going with the best ignitino the first time.

I bought a HI-6 which i though was what Vortech includes.. nawww.. its HI-6S big difference.

now I'm with MSD and I wish I would have had gone with LTCC or DELTEQ

 

seeing a buddy drive for 2 weeks with a blown headgasket..on 12 psi...that made a mess of the internals...aside from that it's been explosive reactions that most people have seen.

Chris

 

First, I was trying to get into forced induction cheap. It worked. I got 6-7 PSI out of a paxton unit for $850 (with MSD 6BTM and Carroll Superfueller). HP to $$ ratio was good, but no upgradability. The good news is that this winter it'll probably sell for what I paid for it and someone else will get into the forced induction world cheaply.

Mistake number 2 was trying to fit ATI Twin high-flow ICs from an LS1 into an LT1. The passenger side tubing just won't fit. Custom fabbed tubing will take care of that. Not a big mistake, but a mistake that cost me money nonetheless.

 

Throwing a "little" timing back into the car to race a GSXR600. A little timing turned out to be about 8-9* overall. I won, my short block lost.

 

Having a filter located to close to the ground and flooring it IN HIGH boost in a monsoon type rain storm.

 

Do it right the first time!! Even if it takes another couple years to pay for it. High boost = trashed trans and rear. High boost = fast 1/4 mile times. Cage it, loop it, and wear a good 5 point harness.

When I was younger I reaced a 67 big block Camaro with tons of No2 at the midnights because they would not tech the car - I had a lap belt only the night I ran a made a high 9 sec run. I was also blessed. Soon after a slower car with a young man made in it made a comparable run - he was not so blessed.

Be safe.

Preacher Bryan

 

I agree, that's something that most people don't get too into...NHRA has regs for how quick/fast you go...If you're into drag racing at the track abide by those rules, they WILL save your life.

Chris

On that note, one more I witnessed...A guy decided he didn't need an SFi approved flywheel or bell housing. Needless to say the flywheel broke and went through the bellhousing. Sawed the car in half and took the lower portion of his legs with. Luckily, the medics on hand did an outstanding job and got him and his limbs to the hospital quickly. They were able to reattach them and he was back at the track few months later, in a wheelchair of course. He ended up walking and racing again....Built a new car that you could eat off and passes tech even at the strictest places.

 

Go with 75# injectors minimum, but not over 96#. There is no advantage to running small injectors and these will allow alot of improvements over time.

 

I try to do things right once, or dont do them at all. I find that limits mistakes, like I see a lot of people for purposes of a simple example, buy shorties, then change their mind and a year later go with LTs. Cheaper just to go with the LTs from the git go.

 

To expand on the flywheel accident...

One of the local guys had his clutch go to pieces while on the freeway racing. The clutch I assume broken through and sawed straight through his header and cut up the floorpan real good, all kinds of shrapnel was embedded into the pan. He got real lucky it didn't come any further into the cabin.... I hope to get the footage of the explosion on the net here soon. It looked WICKED from behind!

 

"go big or go home"..thats what my friend steve tells me all the time.dont scrimp on parts now..and have to pay later..ok so..you saved 200 on pistons and bought the cheaper made ones to get you rolling..then you blow a pistons apart..was saving the 200 worth having to spend allll that extra money just to fix it?